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Rams-Broncos Preview
by Mike Rainey
September 1, 2000
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The Rams open up the 2000 season in grand fashion on Monday
night when they host the Denver Broncos at the Trans World Dome
on the season premiere of ABC's Monday Night Football. The Rams
had a 2-2 preseason just like last year, but unlike last year
they won't be surprising many people. After winning Super Bowl
XXXIV in January, the Rams are at the top of every team's hit
list. Can quarterback Kurt Warner duplicate his Cinderella season
of 1999? Can the Rams defense come even close to matching their
league leading numbers of a year ago? Will the Rams be able to
avoid a major injury to a key player like last season? These questions
along with many others will begin to be answered on Monday night.
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The Rams are luck in that they will be returning 19 of their
22 starters from '99. That is something that is very rare in this
day and age in the NFL with the salary cap in place. Most teams
look to pick apart the Super Bowl Champions roster, and the Rams
hierarchy of Jay Zygmunt and Charley Armey did an outstanding
job of keeping as much of last season's roster intact as possible.
One person who is not back this year is head coach Dick Vermeil,
who retired after the Super Bowl and handed the reigns over to
Mike Martz. Martz was last season's offensive coordinator and
was the mastermind behind the Rams explosive and creative offense.
Martz may be the head coach now, but he will still be calling
all the offensive plays from the sidelines.
As a result, the Rams offense should be every bit as good as
it was last season. They were very basic and vanilla in what they
displayed in the preseason, but look for Martz to open up the
playbook on Monday night against the Broncos and put on a show
for the national TV audience. With weapons like Marshall Faulk,
Isaac Bruce, and Torry Holt, to name a few at his disposal, and
the always calm and cool Warner distributing the ball, the Rams
provide matchup problems all over the field for any defense in
the league. The opposition will always hope to be able to put
pressure on Warner and not give him time to throw. If they fail
to do that they have little hope of being able to shut the Rams
down.
Denver also hopes that second year starting quarterback Brian
Griese shows more maturity after suffering through an up-and-down
season a year ago. Griese is a smart quarterback though many still
question his lack of arm strength. He has a decent stable of receivers
to throw to, namely Ed McCaffrey and Rod Smith. The Broncos hope
that ex-Packer Robert Brooks can contribute as a number three
wideout.
The Denver defense allowed a whopping 5.2 yards per carry in
the preseason, and they may see a steady dose of Faulk on Monday
as a result of that stat. If they can't shut down the Rams running
game then they have zero chance to win the game. Even if they
can they still will have a difficult time stopping the Rams high
octane passing game. The Broncos are counting on offseason additions
on defense like ex-Ram safety Billy Jenkins and defensive end
Kavika Pittman to tighten things up.
This should be an entertaining game, but the Rams have too
many weapons for the Broncos to contend with. Unless they turn
the ball over a bunch of times, look for the Rams to beat the
Broncos in convincing fashion to begin the defense of their Super
Bowl title.
